hey guys, <BR>well its christmas and my mrs's doesnt have any ideas for presents so i just told her maybe to get me some stereo stuff for my boat. I was going to replace the 4 in boat speakers, new head unit, an amp and sub. I was just going to get a good brand head unit, amp and speakers to start with. Then later down the track get some tower speakers and just run a seperate amp and sub. <BR> <BR>So basically I wanted some ideas for speakers head unit and amps but not overly expensive. <BR>I was thinking of going JL audio gear? whats ppl's thoughts, anyone put new speakers, amp and head unit in lately that got a good deal? or know of some really good christmas specials? For the time being I just want 4 in boat speakers, a marine headunit and an amp for the 4 speakers, but the headunit needs to be able to be used for future tower speaker/sub upgrades also. <BR> <BR>oh also wheres the best place online to snag some good deals? <BR> <BR>Thanks guys and merry christmas. <BR> <BR>(Message edited by leveraged on December 20, 2009)

leveraged

12-20-2009 6:29 PM

oh also wheres the best place online to get some good deals?

jonyb

12-20-2009 6:42 PM

Do the right thing and check out your local authorized dealers. That way you don't buy some crap that doesn't have warranty and could possibly not be compatible together. <BR> <BR>If you go to a shop, you can come back here and advise us of what they tried to sell you. We'll tell you if you're getting a good deal or not.... <BR> <BR>It's worth spending a few extra dollars by buying locally.

polarbill

12-20-2009 6:52 PM

From what people on here have said you should take a look at the Polk DB651's. You should be able to find them for about $50 a pair. Pick up 2 pairs of those. They have an RMS rating of 60 watts. For a sub how about something like an Image Dynamics ID10D2 or an ID12D2. They recommend about 350 watts. You could also check out a Kicker CVR102 or CVR122. They recommend abotu 400. For an amp get a nice 4 channel amp that will be able to run the 4 Polks at 2 ohms and then a dual 2 ohm subwoofer at 2 ohms. I have heard good things about the ARC Audio amps. They make a 300.4 that would run about 90 watts to each speaker and 350 to the sub. They are very efficient amps from what I have heard. For a deck I have heard Pioneer and Alpine have a cleaner signal or something along those lines. You should be able to find something for $200 I think. <BR> <BR>Deck-Pioneer-$200 <BR><a href="http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_17693_Pioneer+Premier+DEH-P510UB.html" target="_blank">http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_17693_Pioneer+Premier+DEH-P510UB.html</a> <BR> <BR>2 pairs Pold DB651-$100 for 2 pairs <BR><a href="http://www.ecrater.com/product.php?pid=2591170" target="_blank">http://www.ecrater.com/product.php?pid=2591170</a> <BR> <BR>Arc Audio 300.4-$349 <BR><a href="http://www.arcaudio.com/productdescription_pages/amplifiers/ks-series/ks3004.asp" target="_blank">http://www.arcaudio.com/productdescription_pages/amplifiers/ks-series/ks3004.asp</a> <BR><a href="http://www.arcaudio.com/index.asp" target="_blank">http://www.arcaudio.com/index.asp</a> <BR> <BR>Image Dynamics ID12D2-$150 <BR><a href="http://www.woofersetc.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&amp;product_i d=4994" target="_blank">http://www.woofersetc.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&amp;product_i d=4994</a> <BR> <BR>That is about $800 and a good start to a system. I do agree with John though. If you can find someone local and at least give them a chance to to see if they can come close in price to what can be found online. sonicelectronix.com has a ton of stuff with pretty good prices. <BR> <BR>(Message edited by polarbill on December 20, 2009)

sandm

12-20-2009 7:21 PM

agree with jonyb to a certain degree. the local shop that sells fosgate wanted $800 more for the 3 amps that I bought off ebay and all came brand new in the box.. pretty hard to stay loyal for that kind of cash. $1-200, ok, but $800?? that's my prop and ballast upgrade.. <BR> <BR>good recommendations from polarbill. good sounding basic system that you can grow with...

leveraged

12-20-2009 8:08 PM

cheers guys. When u say local i assume u mean in town, there are no marine audio dealers in my town, closest is 10hrs, away. sonicelectronix looks good and ships to oz, i will try find a system and propose it you guru's. thanks heaps guys.

leveraged

12-20-2009 8:13 PM

would the polks be on par with the JBL's fusions etc or are they better quality (or worse)?

leveraged

12-20-2009 8:23 PM

has anyone added one of those cheap 7 inch lcd screens or dvd monitors to there boat? i was thinking for a far off upgrade for just chilling in the water or learning new tricks from dvd's of putting a cheapy in from ebay or somethen. prob a silly idea but was just wondering, i think ive seen a few boats with them in there.

polarbill

12-20-2009 8:52 PM

Jeff, if you are going to buy everything off of sonicelectronix here you go. <BR> <BR>Pioneer deck I mentioned above-200 <BR> <BR>Kicker ZX700.5-$280. This would run 70 watts to each speaker and 425 to a sub. <BR><a href="http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_11535_Kicker+08ZX700.5.html" target="_blank">http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_11535_Kicker+08ZX700.5.html</a> <BR> <BR>2 pairs Polk DB651-$120 total <BR><a href="http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_9111_Polk+Audio+db651.html" target="_blank">http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_9111_Polk+Audio+db651.html</a> <BR> <BR>Kicker CVR122 sub-$85 <BR><a href="http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_8362_Kicker+07CVR122.html" target="_blank">http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_8362_Kicker+07CVR122.html</a> <BR> <BR>Under $700 for all that.

jonyb

12-20-2009 9:03 PM

I know of several people that have dealt with these online places, including Sonic Electronix. They all got ripped off big time. <BR> <BR><a href="http://www.trustlink.org/BusinessProfile.aspx?ID=205953123" target="_blank">http://www.trustlink.org/BusinessProfile.aspx?ID=205953123</a> <BR> <BR><a href="http://www.ripoffreport.com/Audio-Electronic-Retail-Stores/Sonic-Electronix/sonic-electronix-not-a-good-id-ey9fc.htm" target="_blank">http://www.ripoffreport.com/Audio-Electronic-Retail-Stores/Sonic-Electronix/sonic-electronix-not-a-good-id-ey9fc.htm</a> <BR> <BR><i>"So i un-installed it and took it to a registered alpine dealer and sonicelectronix filed the serial number off the player. Then when i tried to contact the company they did not answer the phone. The only answer the phone 12-3 eastern time, which is a little ridiculous."</i> <BR> <BR><a href="http://www.ripoffreport.com/Search/Company/Sonic-Electronix.aspx" target="_blank">http://www.ripoffreport.com/Search/Company/Sonic-Electronix.aspx</a> <BR> <BR>I also know of a person that bought 2 JL Audio amps from them. The 500/1 came in dead on arriva with no serial number. Sonic (after being called for 2 weeks), finally advised to ship the amp back, they send it to be re-serialized, then to repair, then back to the customer. That would be more than 4 weeks wait. The customer "thought" they were buying a "new" amp that worked. <BR> <BR>There's also a thread on GMfullsize.com that tells that same story. One of the salesmen came on there trying to defend themselves only to start calling people names, including a member of GMFS that was stationed overseas in the military. Lots of racist remarks were made and the Sonic salesman really made a name for himself. Here's the thread, but I think you have to be a member to log on and read it: <a href="http://www.gmfullsize.com/forum/showthread.php?t=83648&amp;highlight=sonicelectron ix" target="_blank">http://www.gmfullsize.com/forum/showthread.php?t=83648&amp;highlight=sonicelectron ix</a>

ponte_06_x2

12-20-2009 9:09 PM

as for good at a lower price. check out the alpine stuff. ive always heard good things on how alpine does with performance and price. plus alpine has a very respected name in car and boat audio.

leveraged

12-20-2009 10:24 PM

will the polk db 651's fit in my original 97 sport nautique speaker mounts? i think they are only 6 inch speakers atm and the polks are 6.5 inch. I was gonna get my stereo underway by ordering 4 db65's and find a suitable amp and head unit this week.

jonyb

12-21-2009 7:08 AM

All eyes, Alpine is the most expensive on the market.... They're my favorite, and have been since 1990, but it's all pricey. I just picked up a 9886M and 2 remotes for a customer and they were a lot more expensive then the Kenwood or Sony crap.

leveraged

12-21-2009 4:14 PM

are those wired remotes pretty handy for you guys, or unnecessary. We would hardly use cd's but always good to have it just incase, but would more then likely use ipod or harddrive with music on it,or just listen to radio. Any head units setup so i could use a external hdd and make a little safe cabinet for it?

polarbill

12-21-2009 4:23 PM

Where is the stock deck location on your boat? If it is in the dash I wouldn't worry about getting a wired remote. If it is on the passenger side of the boat it would be nice to have a remote right by the throttle.

Remote at the helm (if the radio isn't there), and 1 on the transom. You don't know how nice it is until you get one. <BR> <BR>Jeff, have you not read my post about Sonic or does that matter? If you buy from them, just remember, when your stuff craps out, you'd might as well throw it away because there's NO warranty.

leveraged

12-21-2009 8:39 PM

yeh i read it john cheers for that. I was just using that site cos it was easy to use and had alot of stuff easily browsable. If im buying from overseas (im in oz) then there really isnt a warranty anyway, most dealers dont give warranty out of country im pretty sure. So what do guys mount the remotes on the transom above the swim platform (are they waterproof?). Sorry dumb question but just never had anyhting to do with boat stereos before, do you have any pics of them installed?

mikeski

12-21-2009 11:33 PM

For online resellers I have had good luck with woofersetc.com. They even have good tech support. Prices are just a tad higher than ebay but significantly less than Crutchfield.

cwfletch

12-22-2009 7:46 AM

The majority of the time ebay is the best route. The trick is to research the equipment you want, find a target price (google), then search on ebay for deals. I only use "buy-it-now" listings from rated sellers. +1 on Johns post about sonicelectronix, they carry a lot of negative traffic on the internet, I steered clear when I purchased my stereo equip last year and searched for an alternate vendor(s). <BR> <BR>Now to try and help ya out a little, I run (2)JL Audio M6600's they are discontinued but that just means instead of the 500+ I paid 250 shipped. They bridge down to 3 channels and would be comparable to the Kicker amp mentioned above. One JL runs 3 pair of Polk db's and powers them great. The second JL is bridged (3 outputs) left/right channel to run Rubicon 250s and the sub channel to run a JL 12W3v3-4. I paid 550.00 for (1) amp, (3) pair polk and (1) JL sub. I threw all this out there so you could get an idea for the amount of amp you'll need to power the system you want, also accounting for future expansion of your system and price est. <BR> <BR>I already had a Sony head unit but to answer your question above I will be upgrading to the Alpine iDA-X100M (ebay 250.00) + wired puck (ebay 125.00) + RF remote (ebay 75.00). My stereo is mounted in the glove box, I am tired of dealing with the ipod seperate and that unit is sweet. I hope some of this helps you and remember the MOST important part...don't go cheap when you wire it in.

leveraged

12-23-2009 3:36 PM

thanks for your help guys. do u think i should stick with a single brand ? im liking the functionality of the alpine head units so either the x1000 or the 9886m. For speakers im really tossing up between the cheap polks or keep running with alpine or JBL's. would it be easier to run 3 seperate amps, one for in boat speakers, one for tower speakers and one for sub? Because I am only getting head unit speakers and amp first of all for the inboat replacement, can someone recommend me an amp and speaker setup that would be pretty tight? How hard would it be to add 2 more speakers in the bow?

jonyb

12-23-2009 6:41 PM

Fletch, don't limit yourself to just ipods, get the 9886.... Ive got one of those X303's in my wife's Denali and already hate it. <BR> <BR>Jeff, again, check with a local dealer. THere's a million different combinations and a bunch of different brands that everyone here will say is the best. Budget is the most important part.

cwfletch

12-23-2009 8:33 PM

Thanks John I'll check it out, will the 9886 accept the wired puck?

jonyb

12-24-2009 11:01 AM

Not sure about the 9886, but the M version will. I've got the 9886 in my car. Ipod controls are flawless and it still has a cd player. <BR> <BR>Here lately I've gone more and more back to cd's. The sound quality loss on compressed music makes a huge difference in the sound quality.